Joe Heckel, owner of Heckel Logging, Inc., was named
Logger of the Year by the Louisiana Loggers Association
Self Insured Fund, at the organization's annual meeting
in Winnfield on April 20.

Heckel has been a member of the fund since July, 2005.
He began his logging career working for his grandfather,
Ralph Harmon, of Harmon Wood Company in Homer in summers
as a technician while a high school student. His chores
included painting lines and spotting timber, among
others.

After high school graduation, he attended Louisiana
Tech in Ruston for two years, then returned to work for
his grandfather. He learned most of the jobs in the
logging operation including operating a dozer, building
roads, driving a log truck, and other jobs. All he ever
really wanted to do was work in the woods.

When Bo Gibson, a contractor with Harmon Wood, retired
from logging, Heckel bought the Bo Gibson job and started
operating as Heckel Logging.

Growing from a small three-man crew, he now operates
three jobs with four men each, plus two mechanics. Heckel
uses contract trucks to haul product to the mills.

Heckel said that when he began logging the woods
operations were a lot harder work physically, and more
dangerous. Trees were felled and moved with cables, and
equipment that involved more hands-on contact with logs.
Today, work is easier and safer, with operators working
in air-conditioned machines that cut the trees and move
the logs with little phyical exposure.

Heckel uses mostly John Deere equipment, plus a
Prentice loader, to take down the logs. Most of his logs
go to Weyerhaeuser mills.

Joe and his wife Alyson have one son, three daughters,
and one son-in-law, and a six-month-old grandson.